Northern California:  Anytime of the Year

We provide trip planning, bird guide services, the services of our Outdoor Instructors,
and other travel support during anytime of the year to Northern California focused on
San Francisco and Monterey.These costs can be shared if other birder join you during
your trip (if you so desire).

Please Note:  Some of these services are based upon the availability of local bird
guides and upon the availability of the Outdoor Instructors.
Why Northern California for birding and a family
vacation?
For birders with children, Northern California is a great birding and family
vacation destination.  With the help of Nestling Tours to plan and support this
vacation, most birders can add significantly to their life list, and the whole
family can enjoy other fun, interesting, and worthwhile vacation activities.  
  • Between Californian endemics, pelagic birding opportunities, and
    other regional specialties, Northern California provides the
    opportunity to enjoy birds not seen in the rest of the country.  
  • Furthermore, a number of these birding habitats are child friendly.  
    They offer opportunities for the children to have fun (the beach and
    hiking) and to learn more about birds and wildlife (with the help of
    our Outdoor Instructors).
  • In addition, the area offers a wide variety of other family vacation
    opportunities from 2 great aquariums (including the Monterey Bay
    Aquarium), 3 natural history and science museums, and Marine
    World and Six Flags amusement park.  In addition, every kid will enjoy
    the Sea Lions at Pier 39 in San Francisco

For birding, Northern California is one of the few places in the United States
where mountains, marshland, deep forest, open ocean and arid grassland
exist within a short drive of one another.  Because of its location, you can find
birds that nest above the Arctic Circle and migrate south in the same area as
birds that breed in Mexico and migrate north!  In addition, California’s
endemics can be found in this area including Yellow-billed Magpie,
California Towhee, and California Thrasher.  Shearwater Journey’s pelagic
trips provide the best access anywhere in the country for Pacific coast pelagic
birds.  Most birders add at least 10 lifers on their first Pacific pelagic trips,
and an August trip (for example) often includes Black-footed Albatross, Pink-
footed Shearwater, Buller’s Shearwater, Rhinocerous Auklet, Cassin’s
Auklet, Red Phalarope, 2 and sometimes 3 Jaeger species, a few rarities,
sometimes mega-rarities, whales, and other marine mammals.  With Point
Reyes to the north and with Monterey to the south, starting a trip in San
Francisco gives you quick access to two of the best birding spots along the
Pacific Coast.  Adding a few days of guided birding to your trip through
Nestling Tours to find a few more target birds (such as Black Turnstone,
Wandering Tattler, Surfbird, White-tailed Kite, White-headed Woodpecker,
Pacific-slope Flycatcher, and Golden-crowned Sparrow), and a trip to
Northern California becomes a great birding vacation.  

Nestling Tours offers three services to support your Northern California
vacation during most anytime of the year.
  1. Planning and Custom Itineraries:  We will help plan your vacation.  
    See our web-based tools for planning a vacation, which meets your
    birding needs and which meets your family’s needs.  Theses tools
    can be accessed on the “click here” buttons on the upper right of this
    screen (to the right of the Allen's Hummingbird).
  2. Outdoor Instructors: Our Outdoor Instructors provide opportunities
    for your children to learn more about birds, wildlife, and the outdoors
    while you have more opportunities to enjoy birding as a family.  If your
    children are comfortable, some times can be arranged for you to bird
    while your children enjoy a few hours or even a day with our Outdoor
    Instructors.  Their help is essential for you having the freedom to
    enjoy a pelagic trip.
  3. Guided Birding:  Our bird guide (Harry Fuller) has led numerous
    professional tours in Northern California, the United Kingdom and
    Greece. Harry has raised 3 children, all of them remain birders today.
    His granddaughter is still a little young but she already builds little
    cardboard binoculars  “like Grampa’s” in preschool. San Francisco is
    one of Harry’s backyards (his other is in the United Kingdom), and he
    shares his knowledge of Northern California birding by leading trips
    with the Golden Gate Audubon Society each month.  He has also
    taught classes on the history of American ornithology at the California
    Academy of Sciences.

With the help of Nestling Tours, you can easily enjoy a great birding and
family vacation in Northern California.
Custom Northern California Trip Planner
What do you want from your birding and family vacation
in Northern California?  Click on each link below and
help us learn more.
  • Target Birds and Birding Trips:  Let us know what birds you
    want to find and where you want to go birding?  Click here.
  • Children's Choices and Activities:  What do your children
    want to do on vacation?  Click here.
  • Bird Guides and Outdoor Instructors:  Let us enhance you
    birding and family vacation.  Bird Guides can help you find
    those target birds.  Outdoor Instructors can enhance the
    outdoor experience for the whole family.  Click here.
  • Lodging and Camping Preferences:  Where do you want to
    stay? Click here.
  • Some Information About You and Your Trip Choices:  Please
    let us know when you would like to come to Northern
    California.  Please provide us additional information so that we
    may better serve you.  Click here.

Note and Instructions:  You do not have to fill in all of this information,
but it will help us learn more about your birding and family vacation
needs.  From here, we can develop an itinerary which will help you
find the birds you most want to see and which includes other vacation
activities which your whole family will equally enjoy.   
Birding in Northern California

For more information, contact us at

1-888-203-7464

or by email at info@PIBird.com.